600 MHz spectrum

T-Mobile identified 1.2 million square miles where 600 MHz spectrum is available for deployment as of 2017. The first map below shows all areas where T-Mobile notified low power TV stations about commencement of operations. The areas are Partial Economic Areas ("PEA") defined by the FCC for the purpose of issuing 600 MHz licenses. A notification about deployment in an area does not mean the whole area will soon be covered by 600 MHz network.

On October 10th T-Mobile announced a partnership with Fox Television Stations to accelerate relocation of WWOR-TV in New York City by 16 months. This agreement and agreements with other stations will allow T-Mobile deploy 600 MHz in 2018 to 38 million people more in addition to 62 million who live in the areas already clear for deployment. See Q3 Investor Factbook. Neville Ray confirmed early deployment of 600 MHz network in Puerto Rico.

* Launch of 600 MHz in NYC proper will not happen earlier than 5/23 due to WRNN-TV not releasing channel 48.

Map of notifications and early relocations

Map of cities and towns where 600 MHz is available as of February 2018 according to T-Mobile

Relocation of TV stations

11 TV stations that won reverse auction bids to go off air went off air by 10/25/2017. Out of 132 stations that agreed to share a channel in exchange for cash 26 exited the business instead, 46 either started sharing or went silent by 1/23/2018 deadline while the remaining 60 were granted extensions to stay on their current channel till 4/23/2018.

Two stations, DKHPB-CD and DKHLU-CD, cancelled their licenses, one station KPOM-CD relocated earlier than planned and one station KPPX-TV convinced the FCC to remain on the current channel. 30 stations (see the table above) and WFSG are relocating earlier than originally planned.

Relocation of other 952 US and 62 Canadian TV stations, also known as repacking, is organized into 10 phases. During the first phase that is scheduled to be finished by 11/30/2018 the stations shown below will be relocated to lower channels or rearranged within VHF and low UHF channels:

Use the navigation above the map to explore other phases. The schedule of the phases is as follows:

Phase

Testing starts

Ends by

1

09/14/2018

11/30/2018

2

12/01/2018

04/12/2019

3

04/13/2019

06/21/2019

4

06/22/2019

08/02/2019

5

08/03/2019

09/06/2019

6

09/07/2019

10/18/2019

7

10/19/2019

01/17/2020

8

01/18/2020

03/13/2020

9

03/14/2020

05/01/2020

10

05/02/2020

07/03/2020

The following map shows all stations remaining on channels 38-51 after phase 1. Use the navigation above the map to see stations remaining after other phases.

Unlocked phones

The band consists of 35 MHz of contiguous uplink spectrum between 663-698 MHz adjacent to the lower 700 MHz uplink and corresponding 35 MHz of downlink spectrum between 617-652 MHz. The band is logically broken down into seven 5+5 MHz blocks A through G. TV stations will remain on channels 36 and below. Channel 37 will continue to be used for radio astronomy and wireless medical devices. In addition, the remaining 14 MHz of unlicensed spectrum will be available for wireless microphones and new innovative uses.

T-Mobile initiated the work on the 600 MHz band specification in February 2017. The new band was proposed to be assigned the next available FDD band number 71. T-Mobile estimated the specification would be ready for approval in September 2017. Read the work item description document for details. In May 2017 3GPP either endorsed or approved proposed specification changes. Approval means the decision is final, endorsement means the change is technically correct but there are may be other solutions. The only change not endorsed at that time was a change of 25.466 UTRAN specification which was not critical.

On December 20th, 2017, 3GPP released the first set of 5G NR specifications that include n71 band, DC 66+n71, DC 66+n257, DC 71+n71, and CA n71+n257 configurations.

As of January 2018 T-Mobile, Samsung and Ericsson are working on the following NR carrier aggregation combinations covering most T-Mobile's spectrum holdings except 700 and 850 MHz:

n2+n71, n2+n257, n2+n260

n66+n71, n66+n257, n66+n260

n71+n257, n71+n260

n257 intra-band, n260 intra-band

n257 is an NR TDD band covering 27.5-28.35 MHz range in the US. n260 is an NR TDD band covering 38.6-40 GHz range in the US.

Auction results

The 600 MHz auction, also known as the Broadcast Incentive Auction, comprised of two parts: one which determined how much broadcasters were willing to sell their spectrum currently used for TV (the “Reverse Auction”) and another part to determine how much wireless carriers and other bidders were willing to pay for that spectrum (the “Forward Auction”). The auction continued with the reduction of spectrum available in stages until the price set by broadcasters effectively met the price bidders were willing to pay for the spectrum. The auction concluded on March 30th, 2017 clearing 70 MHz (35 + 35 MHz) of spectrum for commercial mobile radio services.